Rayon-spinning pump



NOV. 8, 1938. UR I I 2,136,142

RAYON SPINNING PUM/P Filed June 25, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 30 INVENTOR 334| 45 IVAR MEURLING BY HIS ATTORNEYS Nov. s, 193 v M URUNG 2,136,142

RAYON SPINNING PUMP Filed June 25, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENQ'Q R I?IVAR MEURLING BY HIS ATTORNEYS Patented Nov. 8, 1938 t v UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE Ivar .Meurling, Swarthmore, Pa, asslg'nor, by

mesnc assignments, to American Viscose Corporation, a corporation ofDelaware Application June 25, 1935, Serial No. 28,315 Claims. (or.103-125) This invention relates to pumps'used in spinof course verysimple to clean such open grooves ning rayon, andfmore particularlypumps of the and to satisfy ones self that the groove is clean. geartype. One object of the invention is to While the grooves are shownformed in one plate produce a simplified structure which will beeflionly, it will be obvious that the groove can be 5 cient and at thesame time easy to clean. The formed half in one plate and half in thejuxtainvention will be, shown and described in an emposed plate. 1bodiment more particularly intended for spin- Referring now to thedrawings, the casing conning viscose, but the invention is equallyapplisists essentially of two main plates l0 and II cable to thespinning of any other solutionfor with a thin center plate l2 betweenthem. This making an artificial yarn. center plate l2 has an opening init in which 10 In the drawings, lie the two gears "3,19, The plate isabout the Fig. 1 is a plan view of the two main plates thickness of thegears that do the pumping and of the pump casing, opened out, showingthe new permits the gears toturn, but in contact with open inlet andoutlet grooves; plates l0 and H. The gears are mounted on Fig. 2 is ahorizontal section on the median shafts 20, 2| respectively carried bybearings in line through the assembled pump, taken on the the mainplates H], H. The main plates III, II

line 2-2 of Fig. 5; are kept in register with each other by pins Fig. 3is an elevation of the pump in its op- 46 lying in holes 41 at the endof the v plates. erative position, partly in section, taken through Allthree plates are held together by screws l5 0 the main gear shaft on theline 3-3 of Fig. 5; placed at any desired position around the plates,

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail of the outlet groove these screws passingthrough the center plate as and of the pump gear teeth at the point ofwellas through the two outside plates. It is meshing; while thoughtdesirable to have some of the'screws Fig. 5 is an elevation of the pumpfrom the come in from one plate and some from the other side, on whichthe driving wheel is located: (Fig. 1). The juxtaposed or interior facesof the In spinning rayon it is customary to use a three plates aremachined smooth and make a pump to force the solution through thespinneret liquid-tight fit when the plates are screwed tointo thesetting bath, and one of the more usual gether.- In this way the centerplate serves as .types for this work is the gear pump. It is essenaclosure for the grooves I3, M which constitute tial for a pump used inspinning rayon that it the inlet and outlet for the solution. The por-30 deliver an absolutely uniform quantity of spintion of the centerplate be e wo gears ning solution continuously. In view of this fact I8,I 9 is cut away Se t a the ea between and the fact that a viscose pumpruns at a low the gears is open (Fig. 4). This opens the ends speed, thepump must be built with great acof the inlet and outlet grooves orpassages sumcuracy and kept perfectly clean. If a machine eiently t0Permitthe liquid to be taken by the 35 which is spinning rayon stops forseveral days, gear wheels on one side and discharged on the it isnecessary to take the pu p apa t and clean other. It will be observedthat the solution is it thoroughly. It is necessary to remove evendelivered to the gears from the plate H on one the thinnest film fromthe passages through side 48 of the gears and at the point where thewhich the solution flows in order that no difliculty teeth areSeparating The sellltidn is carried 40 shall be encountered with smallbits of hardened around w the teeth as y travel to t e sid'e solutionwhen the machine starts spinning again. Where y s 0n t Side O the ea sWhere Heretofore it has been very difficult to clean a the teeth mesh,the Outlet P e of co se, gear pump satisfactorily, because some of the ne plate I!) which is the opp Side O t e passages are inaccessible. rsfrom the inlet.

One of the features of my invention lies in Referring to Figs. 1 end 20f 'the drawings, the ease with which the pump an b l d, it will beobserved that the solution enters Heretofore the inlet and outletpassages for the rough a pass 5 Which 8 Straight. viscose have each beenbored through one of the .without turns, through the outer casing to thesolid plates constituting the casing and the pasinner surface thereofand from this point on until 50 sages have come to the surface of thisplate only the liquid is delivered to the gears of the pump, at the pumpgears. According to my invention the groove is entirely open andaccessible for these passages now are placed at the surface of cleaning.The construction of the pump issim the plates so that they form nothingbut shallow plified. in a number of other ways, all of which grooveswhen the casing is taken apart. It is will be describedin connectionwith the drawings 55" in the pocket, and thus I of the solution. 40

It will be seen that in order to clean the pump it is necessary merelyto take out ,the screws and separate the three plates, when all interiorpassages will be open and available for cleaning within sight of theoperator. The portions I6, I1 of the inlet and outlet grooves I3, I4which go straight through to the outer face of their respective platesare short and straight and can be cleaned and examined easily. By thusmaking open grooves of all portions of the passages going longitudinallyof the plates, all difliculty in cleaning is avoided.

In a gear pump, as the teeth come together and mesh, they tend tocapture some of the liquid between them so that it cannot escape. Inorder to avoid any undue pressure from such captured liquid, I havelengthened the discharge passage I4 until the end of the passage almostreaches the line joining the center of the two gears. This provides asimple means of releasing any cap-,

turcd liquid. This feature is illustrated in Fig. 4.

of the pump the oil in such pockets does not penetrate through to theinside of the pump and get mixed with the solution which goes to thespinneret. On the other hand, any spinningsolution which forces its waybetween the shafts and their bearings will be kept in a soft conditionby the oil prevent any hardening The bearings will now be described,those in the plate I being described first. Inthis plate are circularholes 43 in which turn the shafts 20 and 2| for the gears. The bearings.fit the shafts as closely as is possible.

outer edge of the plate for a purpose. In the machine shown in thedrawings this pocket is formed of a circular recess 24 connected to theshaft bearings 43 and enclosed by a cover plate 22 held to the mainplate by a screw 23. The pocket 24 thus formed is liquid-tight and Ifill it with oil. I find that this oil prevents any solution which comesthrough the bearings from hardening. The cover of the oil pocket can beremoved if desired. The normal process of cleaning out the pocket-whichdoes not require removal of the cover-will now be described.

This oil pocket 24 can be seen in Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawings.Referring more particularly to Fig. 3, it will be observed that the oilpocket is connected to an auxiliary reservoir 25which leads to an oilcap 26 on the upper side of. the main plate II]. By opening the oil cap26 and dropping oil into the reservoir 25, the pocket 24 can be keptfull of oil. It has further been discovered that if the oil used is ofhigher specific gravity than the spinning solution, the spinningsolution will tend to rise into the oil reservoir 25 and can be removed.This need be done only at long intervals. By following out this methodof operation it is necessary to remove the cover plate 22 only forinspection purposes.

The pump is driven by a gear 21 fastened on the outer surface of themain plate II. This driving gear can be seen in Figs. 2, 3 and 5 of thedraw- Thes' openings or holes through the plate I0 terminate in a pocketat the ings. The outer surface of the plate II with which the drivinggear is in contact is carefully machined. The driving gear 21 is held onthe surface of the main plate I I by means of a thrust screw 30 carriedby a cover 28. In this way a liquid-tight seal is formed between thedriving gear and the outer surface of the main plate II. The cover 28overlies nearly all of the driving gear 21, and it is fastened to themain plate II by means of three screws 3I. It will be observed that bymeans of this simple arrangement the gear is protected; I

In the center of the driving gear 21 is fixed a hollow sleeve 32. Lyingdiametrically across the inside of this sleeve is a pin 33. The end ofthe long gear-shaft 2| is slotted at its outer end to receive this pin33, a slotted connection thus being made between the driving gear 21 andthe shaft of one ofthe gear wheels. extends into a recess 34 in theouter face of the main plate II. This recess acts as an oil pocket. Therecess and the extension of the sleeve fit together snugly and keep thegear centered. The sleeve, however, does not occupy the entire'spaceformed by this recess 34, as can be seen from Fig. 2 of the drawings. Toprovide an adequate bearing for the shaft 2| in the plate I I, there isa boss 35 which can extend into the recess 34 to a point,

practically level with the adjacent outer surface of the casing. Thesleeve 32 does not contact with this boss but leaves room forcirculatiomof oil between theboss and the sleeve. The bearing fortheshort shaft 20 of the gear I8 can for convenience be bored completelythrough the main plate II, but if it is bored through it is covered,liquid-tight by the-driving gear 21, as in the case of the otherbearing There is an opening 36 from the space at the end of the shortshaft'20 which provides a communication between the recess 34 and theend of the bearing for the shaft 2II. The shaft 20 does not extend tothe outer The sleeve 32 face of the main plate I I, thus affording roomfor h a circulation of oil opposite the end of the shaft.

There is an oil reservoir 31 in the plate I I which is connected to anoil cap- 33 on the top of the plate (Fig. 3). This reservoir connectswith the recess 34 and any driblets of spinning solution tend to pass-upto the reservoir! In addition there are holes 39 at diametricallyopposite points in the sleeve 32 which permit passage of oil from thespace between the sleeve and the boss 35 to the passage 36 on theoutside of the sleeve 32. These holes 39 also serve to lubricate thebearing between the sleeve and the recess 34. The holes are connected onthe outside of the sleeve by. a circumferential groove 44. It will beobserved that the circulation of oil will take care of both bearings. v

It will be noted that the sleeve 32 has a flange 40 overlying the outerside of the driving gear 21 and that there is a closure 4| permanentlyhiserted in the center of this sleeve (Fig. 2). This closure also has ashoulder or fiange 42 overlying end thrust screw'30 has a lock nut 45 onthe out-/ I side of the cover to permit adjustment of the screw.

To disassemble the driving mechanism it is throughout. Thus while it isnecessary for the portion of the plate which contains thebearings andthe oil pockets to be of a certain thickness,

the portion of the plates where the spinning solution inlet I6 islocated and the spinning solution outlet l1 need notbe of any suchthickness. i have discovered that it is better to make this portion ofeach plate much thinner, thus making the holes through the platesshorter and easier to clean.

The path of the spinning solution throughthe pump is as follows. Thespinning solution enters at the passage iii in the main plate ii (Figs.2 and 3) and goes from there direct to the inner face of the plate Hwhere it traverses the inlet groove l3 to a position beside the gearwheels l8 and I9. At this position the gear teeth are turning away fromeach other, that is to say, on the upper or inlet side 48 as the gearsare shown in Fig. 4, and the solution is therefore taken between theteeth of the gears 18 and i8 and the center plate l2. The solution iscarried around until it comes to the discharge or outlet side, where itmeets the outlet groove l4 (Figs. 1 and 4). As already mentioned, thisgroove extends beside the gear wheels to a point almost reaching theline joining the centers of the two gears so that any liquid which maybe imprisoned between the teeth isexpelled laterally into the outletgroove [4. The spinning solution passes along this outlet groove untilit comes to the short passage leading through the main plate l0, whereit is discharged from the pump. Owing to the pressure under which thesolution is moving through the pump, there always is a slight leakagethrough the bearings of the gears, as already mentioned. This inevitableleakage goes into the oil-filled pockets 24 and 34,.the leakage alwaysbeing kept soft by the presence of the oil. The oil pockets and oilreservoirs are large enough so that it is necessary to clean out or getrid of the surplus spinning solution only at long intervals.

It will be seen that the pump is composed of a minimum number of partswhich can beassembled and disassembled with great ease and that it isnot necessary in the ordinary running of the pump to disassemble it atall; If for any reason the pump is stopped and it is, necessary to cleanit, it can be disassembled veryeasily and the inlet a In a gear pump fora rayon spinning ma-' chine, pump gears, shafts carrying said gears anda casing surrounding and forming bearings for said shafts, incombination with a gear outside the casing adapted to engage'and drivethe end of one of the shafts, and a non-revoluble guard for the drivinggear mountedon the catsing outside the gear covering the latter andpressing it against the casing.

2. In a gear pump for a rayon spinning machine, pump gears, shaftscarrying said gears, a. casing surrounding said gears and formingbearings for the latter, and an oil pocket surrounding one of the endsof said shafts and adapted to receive any spinning solution which comesthrough the bearing and prevent it from hardening, in combination with agear adapted to drive the shaft end and to serve as a closure for saidoil pocket, and means acting on the outer side of said gear adapted tohold same an oil pocket for the end of one of said shafts having an oilopening above the level *of the shafts, a gear adapted to engage anddrive the shaft end and to serve as a closure forsaid oil pocket, andmeans acting on the outer side of said gear to hold same againstsaidcasing.

4. In a gear pump for a rayon spinning machine, pump gears, shaftscarrying said pump gears and a. casing surrounding said gears and'forming' bearings for said shafts, said casing being formed of plateswithopen grooves on juxtaposed faces serving as passages for thespinning solution to and from the gears, said bearings and shaftspermitting a trace ofspinning solution to come through to the outside ofthe bearings for lubrication, in combination with an oil pocket whoseoil is in, contact withthe bearing end of one of said shafts to make theleaking solution harmless, a. revolving gear adapted to engage and drivesaid shaft end and serving as a closure for saidoil pocket, and

means mounted exterior of said shaft, oil pocket.

and shafts permitting a trace of spinning'solu-v tion to come through tothe outside of the bearing's for lubrication, in combination with an oilpocket whose oil is in contact with the bearing end of one of saidshafts to make the leaking solution harmless, a revolving gear adaptedto closure for said oil pocket, and means mounted exterior of saidshaft, oil pocket and gear, holdengage and drive said shaft end andserving as a Y ing the latter removably against the casing'to close theoil pocket.

Ivan momma.

